Decorating Christmas trees or out of the window is out of style, at the TU/e they are launched.
There is a huge orange cannon on the grounds of the university. No clowns or pumpkins are launched with it, but Christmas trees.
It is a playful action during the first Christmas market on the site of the Technical University. Community manager Erik de Jong is responsible for the flying Christmas trees. “A Christmas market is fun, but of course it has to suit us a bit.”
They succeeded in that, because the launches attract a lot of attention around the pond next to the Vertigo building. Artist Leon de Bruijne made the Christmas tree cannon. “We first started with a confetti cannon and we put in small trees in it.” That made us hungry for more and so they designed a big orange cannon.
The launcher works on air pressure, but that does not detract from the enormous power with which the tree is launched. “Our record is 64 meters, but the flight is more important than the distance, which is why the launch tube can also be adjusted”, says De Bruijne.
The Christmas market and the cannon on the TU/e site can still be visited until Thursday 21 December. The market will then be concluded with a sing-a-long from the Christmas choir of the university.
Source: Studio040
